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If you’ve ever tried to make a sandwich with a fresh loaf of bread and a ripe tomato, you know how essential a good serrated knife is to the outcome of your meal. Bread knives are niche, but they're one of the few kitchen knives that you absolutely need in your arsenal. With that in mind, we set out to find the best serrated knife for home cooks—one that cuts through bread, tomatoes, and other delicate, squishable foods with ease; has sharp teeth and plenty of heft; and feels comfortable in the hand. Keep reading for the best serrated knives of 2019; for the specifics of how we tested and what to look for in a serrated knife, scroll to the bottom of the page.

The Overall Best Serrated Knife: Misen Essentials

“That was lovely,” said Associate Editor Joe Sevier as he held a perfect slice of sourdough in one hand, the Misen Essential serrated knife in the other. “I love the grip on this. I can hold it by the handle or hold it with a pinch by the blade, and they both feel comfortable.” The Misen is a classic bread knife. It evenly sliced through a tomato and a boule, yielding clean and precise slices without crushing or mangling its subjects. It’s sturdy, comfortable to hold, and long but not unwieldy. The teeth aren't too pointy, nor are they as wavy as some of the others we saw. It’s like the Switzerland of scalloped edges, and a unanimous favorite. The knife, made from Japanese steel, has a sleek look, a sloped bolster for ease of use, and just the right amount of heft for our purposes. If you're looking for a high-quality, optimally effective serrated knife that will do wonders for your homemade bread, this is your best bet. And at $55, it's budget-friendly.

Misen

Misen Essentials Serrated Knife

The Best Serrated Knife for Small Hands: Shun Classic

“The handle feels small, which is perfect for me because I have exceptionally small hands,” noted Commerce Editor Emily Johnson of the Shun Classic Bread Knife. “The handle is too small, it just isn’t comfortable for me to hold,” Joe countered. Joe and Emily have vastly different hand sizes, and that matters with knives. Despite the size of the Shun’s handle, it ranked higher than the other knives we tested in effectiveness. It also had wavy teeth, a somewhat unusual characteristic of bread knives, but that's why we liked it. This knife is proof that wavy teeth deserve a chance—and just a great pick for people with small hands.

Amazon

Shun Classic Bread Knife

The Shun Classic Bread Knife is our best bet for home cooks with small hands. It has a 9-inch blade and is easy to control, especially if you're cutting through a large loaf of bread.

How We Tested

Along with Epi editors Emily Johnson and Joe Sevier, I tested 13 serrated bread knives on crusty sourdough loaves and winter vine tomatoes. We only tested knives with blades between 8 inches and 10 inches—we wanted them to be long enough to easily slice through a wide boule, but not too long that they’d become unwieldy. As for shape, we only tested straight knives with handles and blades that were in line with each other, or knives with blades that had a slight curve. Some serrated knives are offset, meaning the handle is above the blade, but we avoided these to keep our test as streamlined as possible, and because Senior Food Editor Anna Stockwell, who we ran our final contenders by, claims they aren’t as safe as advertised.

Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Prop Styling by Beatrice Chastka

Factors We Evaluated

1. Does the knife effectively cut through bread and tomatoes?

We were looking for a serrated knife that cut cleanly through the bread and tomatoes’ tough exteriors without mangling or tearing the delicate interiors, and one that didn’t require a lot of downward pressure to get there. The knives we found to be the most effective had narrower blades with 16° (or under) edge angles. The thinner the blade, the less surface area the knife has to destroy whatever it is you’re slicing. Points were awarded to knives that cut crisply through the top crust of our loaf, didn’t tear the soft center, and broke through the bottom crust with minimal resistance. For tomatoes, the most effective knives—still with narrower blades—glided through the fruit in one fell swoop, leaving even, thin slices perfectly suited for a tomato and mayonnaise sandwich.

2. Does it have heft?

We recommend a knife that has enough heft to easily carve through tough crusts, layer cakes, tomatoes, and anything else with a firm exterior and delicate interior. However, the knife shouldn’t be so heavy that it becomes cumbersome and uncomfortable to use. It should be sturdy, durable, and balanced to increase control and productivity.

3. What shape are the teeth?

A serrated knife is essentially just a food saw, but you should definitely not be hacking at food like you would with a saw—which is where the teeth enter the conversation. The shape of the teeth is an important factor: rounded, more scalloped teeth get a bad rap for being less effective than pointy teeth, but this is not always the case. Plus, pointy teeth are not necessarily the bees knees of bread cutting—if they’re too pointy, they can get caught on everything from the crust to the squishy centers, and ultimately tear the bread. We actually found that we liked scalloped edges in some cases, and that the ultra-pointy teeth were unanimously unfavorable. Somewhere in between is the serrated knife sweet spot.

4. How does the knife feel in the hand?

At the end of the day, you still have to use this thing...a lot. The knives we liked best had ergonomic handles that felt comfortable in multiple grips, long-enough blades to pinch without losing a lot of slicing real estate, and sloped bolsters, which are the pieces of steel between the blade and handle that keep the knife balanced—and our hands from slipping.

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Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Prop Styling by Beatrice Chastka

Other Knives We Tested

A few other knives we tested include the Knifey 8” Serrated Knife, the Messermeister Park Plaza Serrated Knife, and the Miyabi Kaizen 9.5” Bread Knife. The Messermeister was the first knife we tested, but it couldn’t cut through the surface of the extra-crusty loaf. At $55, it's an affordable option, but only if you expect to slice softer subjects (i.e. not extra-crusty bread). The Knifey is the most saw-like of the bunch, which, if that’s your thing, great. The blade isn't quite long enough to pinch, but the handle is ergonomic and comfortable to grip. We ultimately found the teeth to be too sharp after they ripped through the flesh of the tomatoes. To cut through the loaf with the Miyabi Kaizen, small-but-mighty Emily had to lean all the way into it and ended up with an oversized, crushed, nearly broken slice of bread, to which Joe remarked, “If it’s going to cut like that straight out of the box, it’s not going to last.” Food is not meant to be hacked and mangled, and you should have total control of your knife as you cut. These things were not the case with the Miyabi. That said, it did eventually make its way through the bread, which is something.

We also tested the Bob Kramer Essential Bread Knife by Zwilling—it cut through bread with a little less resistance than the Shun but struggled to get through the bottom. However, it cut through tomatoes like butter, slicing perfectly thin and even slices. It was easy to control, contoured to our hands nicely, and had a nice heft. At $200, it's not exactly the cheapest knife on the block, but if you place a high value on cutting tomatoes, the price is worth it.

The Takeaway

Get the Misen Essentials knife if you're looking for a serrated knife that does exactly what it’s supposed to do, which is to cut through bread, tomatoes, maybe citrus, and other things with tough exteriors and oh-so-delicate interiors. If you have small hands and prefer a slightly shorter blade for that extra bit of control, we recommend the Shun. If you’re more concerned with the quality of your tomatoes post-slice than how your bread fares (hello, caprese salad), go with the Kramer. Assess your serrated bread knife needs and go with your gut—or what fits your price point.